**Hayden's POV, graphic**
The first house we looked at reminded me of the ones from Full House. It was a two story smushed between others on a street. We only needed two bedrooms for when family came and due to the prices and not knowing my salary yet or Dasha's. It was just nice to see the options for now.
"When's the wedding?" The realtor smiled after showing us the upstairs of the "townhome".
"December twenty-eight." I replied as she smiled.
"Well congratulations to you both. This is a place many couples do buy out when living on their own or apartments if they so choose. But because of the neighborhood and location it's a good place to raise a family later on. We have many schools not more than ten minutes from here."
"That's good to know," Dasha replied as Melody showed her the kitchen. I stood back and just glanced around at the living room, imagining furniture and a family. It was possible, but I really did want to see a house that wasn't so compact. However seeing Dasha's face in general was making it all worth it.
"Thank you again," Dasha told Melody as she handed her a business card.
"Don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions. I know it's a lot to take in, and there's plenty of others similar if this place isn't exactly what you're looking for."
"Thank you." I shook her hand and walked out with Dasha.
We saved our comments for when we reached the car.
"It's nice, but... very enclosed."
"I agree, the places tomorrow should have a bit more space between them."
"I did like the kitchen space and the fact that the bedrooms did have a good amount of room. Hayden, we can always have an apartment. Cali is expensive."
"If we have to we can, but I have money saved up and I know we could afford something even like what we just looked at. Don't worry about the money."
"I can't imagine Tyson living out here on his own. He would have to find a roommate or something if he really did want to live here with us."
"I feel like Rose and Sean would let him stay with them don't you? Or even we could let him stay with us." I offered.
"I know Sean would love to have Tyson. It just all depends at this point. What would we do with the things we don't take with us?"
"My parents offered to take whatever we didn't need and I know Nina would take things too. Honestly even within the house I stayed at, there are things that can be thrown away and such."
When we got back to the hotel we were staying at for the next few days, I stepped into the bathroom to fix my hair. "I made reservations over near San Francisco for tonight. Just to celebrate."
"Sounds good babe, where at?" Dasha was touching up her makeup on the bed.
"Nopa, it was highly recommended."
"Great. I'm already loving it out here." Dasha stood up and came over to lean against the bathroom counter as I bent down to kiss her.
"We have about three hours..." I teased when I saw the look in her eyes.
"Plenty of time," she winked and stepped out of my grasp to go pick out a dress for tonight. "I have a few choices, if you want to help me decide."
"I'll never say no to that if you're going to show me." I grinned and followed her back into the bedroom while I laid on the bed. She had slipped into the closet.
"Don't get mad okay?" She called from the closet as I heard her move around to slip the dress on.
"Okay...?" I wasn't sure what she meant by that until she stepped out and I gasped.
Not only was the dress short, it dropped in the front to show off her breasts. Fuck, I didn't know women actually wore this stuff. It really did look good on her though, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from her chest.
"I take it you don't..." she trailed as I looked at her.
"If you wear it, it's after we're married. I like it but... sorry babe I can't stop looking at your breasts."
She shifted the grey material so it closed in a bit and smiled. "It's a good thing I brought two more options."
"Trust me," I stood up and walked around her, "I love it. But we wouldn't be leaving the hotel if you stay in that." I pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.
"Okay." She took a deep breath to keep control and slipped back into the closet.
When she stepped out a second time I knew we were going to have to do something before leaving. She honestly had no idea how alluring she was.
"It's a bit more conservative," she teased and stood still while I looked at her. The maroon dress hugged her curves just right and showed a tiny part of her stomach before falling to her knees. I loved the color more than anything.
"I do like this one," I smiled at her but she smirked when she saw the look in my eyes.
"Maybe I shouldn't try on the third dress... it'll help with keeping your hormones in check."
"Probably not love, I'll still want to have you regardless of what you're wearing."
The third one was a light pink dress that fell to the ground and tied behind her neck to hold everything in place. It was simple but elegant at the same time.
"I say the maroon one, only because this one is beautiful but may be too simple."
"I agree." She tied her hair up and pulled the knot from the back as the dress pooled around her feet.
"Dasha." I groaned and shut my eyes for a moment.
"Baby, by the way your pants are right now you definitely need some help before tonight."
She pushed me down onto the bed and helped me undress as I couldn't help but just look at her. Thoughts of our future wedding came flashing through my mind as I was reminded again at how lucky I was to have this girl.
"You okay?" Dasha was straddling my legs and brushing the strands of her hair from her eyes.
"More than okay love." I reassured her and scooped her up in my arms.
"Where are we going?" She giggled as I carried her into the shower and turned the water on.
"Well... I figured the water will be warm by the time we're done. And then we can finish getting ready afterwards." I teased.
"You won't drop me will you?" She chewed the bottom of her lip but I knew she was partially teasing.
"Of course not." Turning the water closer to the drain, I brought her to the other side of the shower and kissed her roughly.
Dasha smiled against my lips as I pressed her against the glass wall and felt her body respond to the heat I was generating and the coolness against her back.
"How do you do this," she gasped as I brought her arms around my neck and got ready to lift her.
"Practice." I teased and slid into her before pressing her harder against the wall to ensure I had a good grip.
"Fuck Hayden," her mouth opened wide as I began to move quicker and felt myself sliding deeper.
Her lips found my neck and she kissed it softly before pressing harder against my skin. I could tell she was close and moved one hand to touch her breasts before she moaned into my neck.
"You're so hot when you moan Dasha." I groaned while feeling her tighten around me and finishing at the same time she did.
She gripped tighter around my waist with her legs, "if you put me down I won't be able to stand."
I chuckled and held onto her for another minute. "I need to let you down because I can barely stand myself."
She sighed and allowed me to set her down as she proceeded to sit on the floor of the shower.
Handing her the soap, I sat down as well to block the water from hitting her face as she washed up.
"Is it always like this with people? Even years after they've been together?" She handed me the soap while looking at me.
I nearly looked away from her gaze, it was so intimate and just... raw. God I loved this woman.
"I think for most people yes. But there's probably a lot of factors that play into it as well."
After we washed off and got ready for dinner, I took her hand in mine while we walked into the restaurant.
"I really am excited to marry you Miss Watkins."
"The pleasure is mine Mr. Blaze," she kissed my cheek and sipped her water.
Raising my glass of wine, she raised hers as well.
"To no more hiding." I murmured as her eyes shone with the dim lighting.
"No more hiding." She clinked my glass before taking a sip and setting her drink down. "How soon can we put an offer in for any of the places we look at?"
"As soon as possible. I think one of the other two places we look at tomorrow will have more of what we're looking for."
"I think so too."
"Anxious to move out here now?" I teased her.
"If it means I'll get to happily spend every moment with you and not be worried about it, then yes."
"Should we look into moving the wedding out here? No one would know then except for family and such. It wouldn't be super expensive for them to fly."
"If we can find a venue that would take us, we're cutting it a bit close."
"I think it's worth looking into. We wouldn't have to worry about anything from home disrupting the ceremony."
"True."
"We have time to figure that out, let's just see how the living situation looks in the morning and go from there."
"Agreed, I wonder how the dogs are doing?"
"Already missing them?" I teased her as she blushed.
"They're basically my furry children, of course I miss them. You get to spend more time with them than I do."
"Women and their puppies," I continued as she just smiled. "But now you'll be able to see them as much as you like without leaving me at night."
"You'll be the one leaving for class now, until I can find something."
"You will. Just take these next few weeks to relax as much as you can. You deserve it babe."
**The next day**
"So I like the second place we looked at. Only because there was more of a yard and the area seemed pretty spaced out considering." Dasha was looking at all the pamphlets we had gotten from visiting the three places.
"I liked the second or the third one. The third, granted, was smaller and more of a studio type apartment, but it was priced well for the area it was in."
"The only thing was being on the fourth floor. But, that's not bad considering." She set the first pamphlet to the side, "I think we can agree that the first one is a no go?"
"Yeah, it was great, but not exactly what I imagined."
"I think the second one is probably our best bet. It's still close to the University, and near everything within walking distance." It was located in Oakland, which from what we were seeing was a pretty good area and close to the water.
"Okay, I'll call... was it Shannon?"
"Yes."
"I'll call her and ask about signing the papers before we leave tomorrow. That way we have at least something semi-finished."
"Sounds good! I really do like it out here," she looked out the window again to see the cars rushing by and the ocean in the further distance. "Would you want to raise kids out here? If it happened before we moved back home?"
"Wherever we raise our kids will be fine love. I guess we can test the theory with Bandit and Jasper first."
"True," she giggled while I stood behind her and placed my chin on the top of her head. There was no place I would have rather been in that moment than with Dasha, and seeing our future literally on the horizon.
**So I was going to describe the other two apartments but 1 I was too lazy to do that and 2 I wanted to update since school is kicking my butt. The next chapter I'll speed things up a bit again just because I really do want to do the wedding in this book and that's like a whole 6 months away. How many of you love Hayden's POV? I adore him honestly, he's probably my favorite male character I've ever written, aside from Spencer in the Karma series**